Convert the PowerShot N into a Rolleiflex Style Camera

[martti]

If you take that particular screw out of somebody else's bicycle you might get involved in something like involuntary manslaughter. CAn you make it so that the image in the viewfinder swings the other way than the camera like in the real Rolleicord? That would be cool.

 

[RobPan]

Maybe I am just clueless but what is the point of doing this? Other than to say that you can? Is there some advantage to holding a camera like this? People complain about not having a viewfinder and how unimaginablely difficult it is to frame a shot but with this you have to look down and not even close to where your subject is. Please let me know if I am missing something. Honestly I am curious what the draw to this is

For instance: child photography. Better to have the camera on a low level than photographing them far from above. Stability is another advantage. Pull the camera straps taut.
The Exakta Varex had an interchangeable waist level finder, very practical and useful. (Grandpa speaking.)
Kind regards,
Rob.

 

[martti]

Canon F-1 had an interchangeable prism as well. You could remove it and look directly at the ground glass from above.

 

[mrsfotografie]

If you take that particular screw out of somebody else's bicycle you might get involved in something like involuntary manslaughter. CAn you make it so that the image in the viewfinder swings the other way than the camera like in the real Rolleicord? That would be cool.

Why steal if you can buy?

 

[martti]

it is cheaper if you steal it of course, whitey!

 

[mrsfotografie]

it is cheaper if you steal it of course, whitey!

??? :

 

[RobPan]

Canon F-1 had an interchangeable prism as well. You could remove it and look directly at the ground glass from above.

Yes, it did. Though I do not remember ever using it. Oh well, once or twice. The Exakta however, had a buit in film cutter*, something I miss badly on the 5D3, which does not even have film transport knobs. A pity. But surprisingly, it does have a film rewind button on the left side which has been reassigned as a mode selection button: M, Av, Tv etc. Which is a clear example of the idea that new things are often lookalikes of their predecessors (e.g. the first cars looked much like a horse drawn coach). b.t.w. the fact that one does not have to buy film for present day digital cameras has certainly saved me (and you!) a lot of money! The very expensive 5D3 already nearly payed its price back to me in film costs (film+developing). Something to remember when thinking about buying a digital camera.
Kind regards, Rob.

*) If, after say four or five exposures you were in a hurry to see the results, you could cut the film, and in a dark place remove the short strip from the camera in order to develop it. The unexposed remainder you could still use. Remember that the Exakta at the time was being produced in East-Germany, which was a rather poor country.

 

[Bennymiata]

If the waist-level viewfinder is to be true to form, then the image has to be upside-down and left to right.
This was the main reason that waist-level viewfinders got taken over by penta-prisms.

My first SLR camera was an Exacta Varex.
Not only was the film cutter handy, but the camera was designed for left handers.
Where are the lefty cameras today?

 

[Rocky]

If the waist-level viewfinder is to be true to form, then the image has to be upside-down and left to right.
This was the main reason that waist-level viewfinders got taken over by penta-prisms.

My first SLR camera was an Exacta Varex.
Not only was the film cutter handy, but the camera was designed for left handers.
Where are the lefty cameras today?

You are right about the left and right reverse on the finder. But the image in the finder IS NOT up side down.

 

[Rocky]

Canon F-1 had an interchangeable prism as well. You could remove it and look directly at the ground glass from above.

*) If, after say four or five exposures you were in a hurry to see the results, you could cut the film, and in a dark place remove the short strip from the camera in order to develop it. The unexposed remainder you could still use. Remember that the Exakta at the time was being produced in East-Germany, which was a rather poor country.

The proper way to us this function is to have a reusable emty film cassetts on the recieving end to keep the explosed film in the cassette such that it will be in total darkness.. Before you want to cut the film, you will advance the film by 2 frames and cut it.
Exakta was made in Dresden way before the second world war. It was a united Germany. It was pretty wealthy.

 

[martti]

Exactas were manufactured in GDR until the 1970s.

 

[Rocky]

Exactas were manufactured in GDR until the 1970s.

Your are right on this. I did not make it clear that the Exakta has been manufacturing in Dresden all the time, from 1933 until 1970. From 1939 to 1969, all Exakta has the film cutting knife. The last model (VX1000) does not have the film cutting knife.

 

[martti]

Goodbye, Lenin. Goodbye, Honecker. Goodbye Trabant. Goodbye Exacta and Zeiss Jena.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIjSaHUKD5I

 

[RobPan]

Exactas were manufactured in GDR until the 1970s.

Your are right on this. I did not make it clear that the Exakta has been manufacturing in Dresden all the time, from 1933 until 1970. From 1939 to 1969, all Exakta has the film cutting knife. The last model (VX1000) does not have the film cutting knife.

O yes, it had! I had an Exakta VX1000 and it did have the film cutting knife.
Kind regards, Rob.

 

[Cet]

Maybe I am just clueless but what is the point of doing this? Other than to say that you can? Is there some advantage to holding a camera like this? People complain about not having a viewfinder and how unimaginablely difficult it is to frame a shot but with this you have to look down and not even close to where your subject is. Please let me know if I am missing something. Honestly I am curious what the draw to this is

This is great for street photography. You want to avoid eye contact as you want to avoid interacting with the people you photograph as a street photographer to preserve the authenticity of the situation. You do not want people to pose but to act as normal as they do when they do not know that they are photographed.